The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1887-07-23
MINING NEWS.
Closing Down Of Mines at sawtooth
and Vicinity---General Notea.

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though those who have stood b,
the three camps for so long time
must now face a stern reality and
see them virtually abandoned. The
Vienna Company has suspended
work, the stamps at the mill have
been chung up" and there does
not appear to be much likelihood
of any resumption of operations.
Work on the Solace mine has also
been stopped and the owners said
to have thrown up the sponge.
One of McPheters' teams left on
Wednesday for the purpose of
bringing down a small lot of ore,
and the supplies on hand, the tools,
etc, are to be brought away.
AT Galena very unsatisfactory
condition of affairs exist. The
Senate Company sometime ago was
said to have acquired possession of
the Gladiator property, and it was
supposed work would be started on
more extensive scale than hith-
erto. The reverse has been the re-
suit. The Representatives of the
company have not put in an APP
pearance, as expected, men have
not been paid for some months,
and most, if not all, the miners
have quit work. What will be the
outcome will be hard to determine,
but rumors are current that the
company is in serious financial
straits and may not he able to re-
cuperate. Sawtooth, which has
struggled on for several years, hop
ing for better times. also receives
a blow that will be the last straw,
in all probability. The Sawtooth
Mill and Mining Company will do
no work this year and mine and
mill will lay idle for some time to
come unless lease of the property
is effected. The Atlanta and Idaho
Co. is pursuing its usual course
of doing nothing. The property
of the company is quite extensive
but with no disposition shown to
work some one or two of the mines,
it is in its present condition worth
less. 1t is said that the company
would sell out, but it fixes such an
cXtravagant figure upon the prop
erty that no sale could possibly be
effected. Neither will the owners
bond the same at any decent sum,
while to lease the whole or any part
the most outrageous terms are eX-
acted, even to including the right
'of instant possession in case n sale
is made by the payment of small
percentage on the given purchase
price. The Silver King mine, after
being worked all winter, was closed
down this week, Major Hyndman
leaving here on Wednesday for such
purpose. He will lease the prop
erty, if possible, but failing in this
the mine will be shut down, and
remain so for an indefinite period.
1t is best that the facts should be
known, though some may say it is
an attempt to decry the country to
publish such a gloomy view of the
prospects. That there are good
mines in what is known rs the
Sawtooth country cannot be denied.
The trouble is that the various
properties are held by numerous
eastern corporations or private
parties that either have not the
means TO prosecute the necessary
work, else lack the disposition to
do so, contenting themselves with
dribbling away small amounts of
money, scarcely adequate to meet
the incidental expenses of short
season. How much better it would
be To raise IA sufficient working cap
ital to develop a piece of property !
at once, and aScertaining in one
year of time what in many cases |
extends 20 several. If the property |
is worthless the sooner found out
the better, if exploration meets with |
SutttSS ullu IIiiilt 10 louIiu, tut
quicker n return on the investment |
is secured the more satisfactory will
it prove to those who were called
upon to furnish the requisite means.
a ear load of Ophir ore, nearly
twenty-five tons, was received at
the smelling works on Tuesday,
coming there through the Bellevue
sampling works. The necessity of
sending ores away from town to be
is not apparent. 1t GER
tainly involves an expense that is
totally unnecessary in the matter
of freight. While the sampling
works here are not conducted on
an independent basis, no charge of
trickery or resort to any unfair
in sampling has ever been
made or is it believed exists. All
that shipper can personally guard
against is incorrectness in weight
or allowance for moisture, and any
in these items easily pre-
vented. 1t is the desire of the man
ager of the works here to give salts
faction to :all, and every one can
rely on a just and correct sampling
Of any ore sent there.
st. Louis capitalists have made